RE: [to everyone] how low r u?

["Crane, Damien" <d3c@TENNANTCO.com>]

I didn't see the program, but I remember reading an article about this.
The author of the article was as impressed as the person in this show.
The system was developed by the special engineering group of Lotus.
(Don't remember if it was before or after the buyout by GM)  They had
the system installed on an Elite (already an extremely good handling car
by conventional standards) and drove a normal one and a hydraulic
(active) one in various situations.  The author said that the most
impressive performance was at speed over a very poor old road.
According to the article, the road not only had a very poor surfaces
(potholes, broken pavement, etc), but was full crests and dips all in a
combination of short straights and fast sweepers.  In short, the
suspension test from hell.  Even thought the stock Elite had one of the
best suspensions of the time, it was bounding and skittering all over
the place and was a real handful for the (experienced) driver.  In
contrast the actively suspended car was infinitely more controllable and
comfortable at the same speed.  And at any time the 'active' driver
could speed up and simple drive away from the passively suspended car.
The potential was clear.  The problem was the cost.  There were no
hydraulic systems that could provided the combination of speed and
pressure necessary to keep the tires on the road and the sprung mass
smooth.  So Lotus Engineering had to develop them.  Additionally, the
very sophisticated computer and exotic surface topology detection
sensors also had to be developed/reengineered and were also expensive.
It's foggy but I recall something like $500K per car.  Interesting stuff
though, and you can see why it was banned in F1.  Like so many
technological advances, it seems to make the driver less and less
important and the hardware moreso.

Damien

> ----------
> From: 	skerocdriver@juno.com[SMTP:skerocdriver@juno.com]
> Sent: 	Friday, January 02, 1998 2:12 PM
> To: 	mannix@privateI.com
> Cc: 	scirocco-l@privateI.com
> Subject: 	Re: [to everyone] how low r u?
> 
> 
> On Fri, 2 Jan 1998 01:33:19 -0500 Iain Mannix <mannix@privateI.com>
> writes:
> >>But,  How about hydraulics?
> >>Has anyone seen them on a Scriocco?
> 
> Not me.
> 
> 
> >>These are just some things I have wondered for a while.
> >>Are they just for show and looks or do they impove handling?
> >
> >I'd guess they are show - only. 
> 
> 
> You know, on a related note, I recall a company... maybe it was
> Jaguar...
> who built a hyd assisted suspension system. ( I remember seeing the in
> depth story on one of the TV shows that shows off the new cars.. does
> the
> long term testing ect.. Motor Trends or something.)
> 
> Anyways, when the car was going through a slalom, the computer run
> system
> would add hyd pressure to the outside suspension to firm it up and
> soften
> the inside wheels. (Not the tire pressure, the shocks.) It actually
> dropped the inside suspension a bit which really helped the outside
> camber angles significantly!
> 
> >From what I remember, it was a system of sensors a small engine
> driven
> hyd pump and a set of hyd shocks on all 4 corners. It was actually
> pretty
> detailed story and they did a slalom run with the system off and a run
> with it on. The narrator was dubiously impressed with the difference
> it
> made. Visibly it made a huge difference and slalom times were much
> quicker as a result.
> 
> Well, they swore this new hyd technology was the wave of the future in
> performance and sedan cars but i've not seen it past that show. 
> 
> Anyone remember seeing this? 
> 
> 
> 
>               Shawn Meze
> 86' Jetta GLi           82' Scirocco GTi
> The Fastest, Quickest, Cleanest and
> best looking Scirocco in all of San Diego!
> http://www.Geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1308/index.htm
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